I love to create cards and it seems people enjoy receiving them. You'll often find me amidst a stack of paper, glitter, stamps and inks playing with my supplies. If you would like to make an order, email me at cardsbycara AT hotmail DOT com

I took the fibres and textures as inspiration and grabbed some cardstock, stamps and an embossing folder. I tend to just make a whole bunch of different cards with what I have while my craft area is a disaster :-) so here are my creations:

Thought I would make a card for my little nephew and so I spelled out his name. I used a herringbone embossing folder and then cut out the letters from my Alpha Blocks dies. I painstakingly added in the circles for the 'a' and 'e' with teeny tiny foam dots that I cut.

I stamped a hounstooth background on the dark chocolate cardstock Harvest Berries die cut with some PTI Vintage Cream ink but it was too stark so I wiped some away to make it a bit more subtle. The kraft embossed panel is mounted on Rustic Cream cardstock. Love those flecks!

I made an early birthday card for my father - why not, right? [Vater = father in German, if you're wondering what on earth I stamped!! :) ] I heat embossed the houndstooth background with some Zing Brown Sugar embossing powder(which, incidentally is a spot on match for Fine Linen cardstock from PTI.) and die cut an angled label, layering it with a smaller chocolate angled label die cut.

I used one of my Fillable Frames sentiments with some Vintage Cream
card stock and used some foam dots to mount the layers over some button
jute twine.Hard to see the texture the heat embossing but I promise it's there!

I stamped an envelope and used some scraps to make an (Angled Label) tag to go with his gift when he gets his present in the fall:

The next card uses lots of houndstooth as well:

This one is for my friend who is going through a tough time. I used the houndstooth stamp on the felt flower die cut as well as the background and stamped the sentiment on the ribbon that I found in my stash.

Love the texture of felt die cuts!! And the felt cuts so cleanly so there is no ripping or frayed edges ....

Ok, next one .. This one is super simple and I think I need to move the dress form up a bit, now that I'm looking at it on camera. I grabbed these sticky canvas pieces from Michael's when they were on sale a while back and have had some fun doing inky techniques and embossing on them. This time I went with straight stamping, though.

It stamps beautifully and even though I didn't use the sticky part of it as I wanted to pop it up, it is a great material. It cuts cleanly, just like felt.

A few foam dots for dimension and some selective inking in different colours and that's it!.

Friday, August 17, 2012

I am in charge of the "Sunshine Fund" at work where we celebrate life's ups and downs. Two of my colleagues have given birth over the summer and I am sending off a card to each plus a gift card so they can choose something for their sweet peas! I broke out some new supplies to make these ...

Love the three step flowers and two step leaves in the new PTI set, Sweet Life. I added a little texture on both with the Simple Stripes impression plate.

And isn't Dawn McVey's handwriting gorgeous?

All Fresh inks from Impress - can't wait for my new inks to arrive! I ordered some during the last sale but my order was held up due to a Memory Box die being back ordered ... These inks really do have amazing coverage.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Sympathy cards are definitely the hardest ones to make ... you are upset
that you have lost someone and not really in the right frame of mind to
craft ... But they still need to be made and so it was with a heavy
heart that I stamped this one.

My second cousin in Europe just lost her husband in a motorcycle accident on his way home from work ... He was only in his early 40s and such a vibrant sweet guy to everyone he met. Needless to say it has come as a big shock to our family. I am sending this to her so that she knows I am thinking of her.

I used the gorgeous Natural Beauties set from Papertrey and stamped in Jenni Bowlin malted milk, brown sugar and weather vane. I stamped the Think Big Favourites sentiment in brown sugar as well and impressed it with the woodgrain impression plate. I edged the panel with some Chai vintage touch ink from the tea dye duo and mounted it on Aqua Mist. I made an envelope with some lightweight kraft paper and my trusty scoring board. I stamped the angled label in Frost White ink from Colorbox - it is such a great white!

I will mail it off tomorrow to my cousin and lend her any support I can during this difficult time ...

Monday, August 13, 2012

I have wanted a good bicycle set for a while and finally picked this up - Joy Ride by Hero Arts. It has a nice selection of bicycles and two sentiments. I busted out my Jenni Bowlin inks and stamped the various images in all sorts of colours.

I added a chocolate strip of cardstock and a sentiment at the bottom with a little tiny bike repeated in the background.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Papertrey is back with another Make it Monday video for inspiration. I love this technique and have done it before ... I pulled out an old favourite set of mine - one of the first I purchased, actually!

I heat embossed the black ink (stamped in Versamark first and then
Memento Tuxedo Black) before using ink pads with an aqua brush to colour
in the flowers and the leaves. I altered the colours and went with
imperfection ... :)

I used a sentiment from Movers and Shakers on the front and on the inside reading I am reminded how wonderful you are. The flower is up on foam dots and the leaves are glued with Tombo Mono Multi glue and then curled up a bit for dimension.

Wonderful to have you here visiting my blog. I love making cards and enjoy giving them to friends and family. I also sell them to anyone who is looking for the handmade custom touch. In my posts, you will see a variety of cards that I have made. If you would like to order any, just send an email to cardsbycara AT hotmail DOT com